CAG Report: Can the Generals deliver if they are indicted?

Root out corruption to improve standard of administration: CAG
Shillong, Nov 6, 2012 (PTI)
India will not be able to raise the standards of efficiency in administration unless corruption in high places is not destroyed and nepotism and black marketing is rooted out, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai said today.
The CAG also noted that citizen groups have become very discerning and more demanding.
"Unless we destroy corruption in high places, root out every trace of nepotism, love of power, profiteering and black marketing which have spoilt the good name of this country in recent times, we will not be able to raise the standards of efficiency in administration as well as in the production and distribution of the necessary goods of life," he said quoting the speech of first Vice President S Radhakrishnan on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on August 14, 1947.
The CAG was addressing the 20th convocation of the North Eastern Hills University here which conferred degrees to 8,035 students including 94 who received doctorate degrees in various disciplines.
Reminding the students that there are great opportunities ahead in their career, Rai warned that "when power outstrips ability, we will fall on evil days." He said, today the issues of ethics, accountability, probity and transparency have come at centre stage.
"Citizen groups have become very discerning and more demanding. What was earlier the silent and hence probably the suffering majority has begun to speak up," the CAG said, adding, "Time has come when we will all be held responsible for our actions, the way the foundation of an ideal society are laid."
Maintaining that ethical management and leadership is the corner stone for any business enterprise, Vinod Rai said, one "cannot compromise" with integrity whether in public administration or in corporate administration.
Stating that while the world is emerging from a severe economic stress and resetting itself to face newer economic realities, Rai said "India is becoming a major economic power."
The CAG urged the graduates to ingrain integrity and honesty in their subconscious and not to compromise under any circumstances despite the testing times and temptations.
"History tells us that many countries have been destroyed not by external aggression but by internal malfeasance," he said.
Expressing concern that the country’s performance in events such as the Olympics, Nobel Prize and registration of patents globally is low, Rai said, "the performance appears even more discerning in the context of our population, number of universities and contribution to global economy."
He said, "This poses a question of quality of education and a mindset of being content with mediocrity rather than being wrong."
Acknowledging that knowledge is power, Rai said the fact that we were conditioned to the hero worshipping of success and frowning upon failure makes us "risk averse".
"We need to strive for excellence, walk the extra mile with clear vision and mission taking every member of the team along," he said.
Root out corruption to improve standard of administration: CAG Comment: The Military needs to improve its image when resorting to local purchases including all types of grants. The commission/ bribe regime should end from top to bottom.

Gross irregularities in CSD

04 sep 2012
A series of communications between Controller of Defence Accounts and the Defence Ministry reveals how gross irregularities occurred in the purchases in defence canteens across the country.
The exchange of letters between the auditors and Ministry exposes the tough resistance by forces to adhere to financial transparency in canteen purchases, involving thousands of crores per year.
“I am writing to highlight the malady that ails the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) and requires immediate attention. CSD has been held in such high esteem that it is almost sacrilegious to doubt their infallibility. Instead of groping in the dark about the functioning of CSD, which is considered to be a mascot of organised procurement system, an insight will reveal the labyrinthine corruption prevailing in the organisation.
“On the one hand the Government is endeavoring to climb the ladders of transparency, accountability, probity in public procurement process and to enhance public confidence in procurement by introducing the “The Public Procurement Bill, 2012” in Parliament, the system followed in CSD is highly opaque, discretionary, providing high degree of arbitrariness,” said Savitur Prasad, the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts in a communication to several officials of Defence Ministry including the Defence Secretary.
The series of letters between the Auditor and Ministry, obtained through RTI by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, says the procurements through nearly half of the vendors are by doubtful methods.
“There are about 600 firms supplying more than 4,000 items to CSD. Almost 200-300 firms provide product whose credentials in consumer market are hardly established. The details of factory inspection and hygiene report be made public by placing on the internet, which may unravel the truth of empanelling such firms.
“It is a travesty of faith that the age old loyalties of defence personnel being stoically dependent on CSD, have been breached by PSC (Preliminary Screening Committee), by introducing product from ineligible firm,” said the auditor of defence accounts.
The auditor has pointed out several malpractices in listing a product and absence of obtaining hygiene certificates for the items sold in canteens.
There are around 34 CSDs across the country and more than 4,500 Unit Run Canteens under it to cater the 17 lakh soldiers of Army, Navy and Air Force and their families.
Two years back, the CAG was allowed to audit CSD accounts after countering stiff opposition from forces. But till date, forces are adamant not to allow the audit by CAG in its 4,500 Unit Run Canteens.
Public Accounts Committee of Parliament headed by Murli Manohar Joshi had directed Defence Ministry to go for the CAG auditing in Unit Run Canteens in December 2011. But till date, forces as well as the Defence Ministry have not yet responded positively to the mandatory directions of the PAC. The Ministry is expected to revert back to PAC by September first week, after having sought postponement of implementation deadlines many a times.-via The Pioneer
Gross irregularities in CSD

Curbs on military canteen booze flow

Curbs on military canteen booze flow
Rajat Pandit, TNN Mar 21, 2012, 01.50AM IST
The move comes in the backdrop of CAG reports and parliamentary committees criticizing the widespread irregularities in the working of the 35 CSD ( canteen stores department) depots, which have a retail network of 3,600 URCs (unit-run canteens) and a turnover of over Rs 8,500 crore.
The new measures include restricting the number of Scotch bottles an officer can draw to 50% of his monthly liquor quota. Major-generals and lieutenant generals will get only seven to eight Scotch bottles in their existing monthly quota of 14-16 bottles.
Similarly, colonels and below will get five to six Scotch bottles in their 10-12 bottle quota. Field Marshals and equivalents and serving and retired Service chiefs, of course, can draw all the liquor they want since they have "no limit".
More importantly, there is a move to "limit" the liquor quota under the "bronze cards" that are used by URCs and others for bulk purchases. "This is the main source of misuse. If the ceiling limit in a bronze card was earlier 10,000 bottles a month, it will be brought down to 1,000," said the source.
Several cases of widespread diversion of the much-cheaper military quota liquor secretly reaching the open market have come to the fore, leading to the court-martial of several senior officers, including a major-general, in recent years.
A performance audit of CSD by CAG had also found that several units were drawing liquor far in excess of what was authorized based on the number of soldiers and ex-servicemen connected with those units.
There is also the move to restrict the sale of cars through CSD, which are about 10%-15% cheaper than market prices. "I recently bought a Honda City through CSD since it cost Rs 1.25 lakh less," said an officer.
If earlier an officer could buy a car through CSD every two years, the new policy restricts it to once in five years. Similarly, JCOs (junior commissioned officers) will be able to buy a car once every 10 years that earlier could be done every five years.
Curbs on military canteen booze flow
Restrictions
Unit Run Canteens management will ensure attractive items are sold only toauthorised personnel as on required basis on not in excess quantity. Strict watch bemaintained where there is large difference in CSD and market rates such as suitcases,watches, pressure cookers, fans and other attractive toiletry and cosmetic items. Profile of customers be strictly watched for spending beyond means.
Monetary limit for all ranks- Purchase of CSD items
Comment: This is a welcome measure. There is gross misuse of CSD facility and the items find its way into the civilian market. Liquor is being openly sold in metro cities. Culprits make around Rs 5000/- (families too get involved in the racket) and more a month profit on one individual canteen card. Liquor is traded and bartared for services. Officers serving and retired must set an example. "Just buy quantum of liquor/ grocery one consumes" only must be the mantra. All Officers who draw their full quota in one go need to be monitored as it is certain that they are selling or bartaring the liquor. Once Officers set an example than JCO's and Jawans will follow the good example. Military personnel and families who have multiple canteen cards and posted in the same station are more prone to misuse the facility. Chennai and Punjab leads in misuse of canteen facilities. Ingenious methods have been evolved to cheat the system. Items are openly traded in civilian shops... and liquor more clandestinely and surreptiously smuggled. In the digital era software can be designed to give the correct picture of those who misuse canteen facility and warnings issued to the offenders electronically with the usage of smart card. This automation will deter offenders from malpractise (no email id no smart card- initially this can be done for Officers and then extended to JCOs and Jawans)). It is important to embed email of all users in the smart card. Once this is done be rest assured that the misuse will reduce tenfold and will vanish in year or so.

Praful Patel and his family flogs the National Carrier to death

Mail Today Bureau | Mail Today | New Delhi, March 25, 2012 | UPDATED 16:06 IST
Praful Patel blamed for Air India woes
Praful Patel , Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, is accused of being the cause of Air-India's woes.
Lesser mortals may have fallen to government's official auditor and his sharp, probing reports. But the suave Praful Patel can hardly be counted as a victim.
The NCP leader shifted from the civil aviation ministry in January, 2011 to the heavy industries sector without much being made by the media of the scandalous decision to acquire 111 aircrafts for Air-India, a move questioned in the CAG's performance audit of the civil aviation sector from 2005 to 2010.
The CAG is also examining a report of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture on the 'Merger of Indian Airlines and Air India: its impact on the Civil Aviation' and criticised the civil aviation ministry for its "ill-timed" plan to merge Air-India and Indian Airlines. CAG's earlier report about aircraft acquisition is being examined by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee where officers have apprised the members that the decision for the acquisition was taken at the "minister's level".
Patel, on his part, has maintained that the decisions, both to acquire the aircrafts as well as the merger of Air-India and Indian Airlines, were right. The fault lay with implementation that has left the national carrier in a state of penury. He now presides over a department that is empowered to decide whether Air-India is a "sick" unit. Who brought about this downfall is a case for the Head of sthe Council of Ministers to analyse.
Read more at: Praful Patel blamed for Air India woes
Air India deployed bigger aircraft for Praful Patel's family?
Comment: The high flying corrupt Aviation Minister is rewarded by being given another plum ministry which he can denude at liesure. Corrupt Ministers are rewarded and honest Ministers sidelined. Where is the accountability? Praful Patel exemplifies the type of Banana Republic which are ruled by Criminal Political Families- Family Run Governance more dreadful than the Moghul and British Empire...

Tatra scam: 'Govt imposed deal on the Army'

Source: Pradip R Sagar & Saikat Datta  
New Delhi: Union Defence Minister AK Antony is either unaware of the defence audit wing’s warnings against the outdated and overpriced Tatra trucks or he is feigning ignorance.
In fact, the audit wing, which comes under the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG), found in 2006 that orders for Tatra trucks were placed after considerable manipulation “to keep the production line of BEML alive”.
If Antony was to go through the files, he would have noticed the several audit findings that point out Tatra trucks were imposed on the Army many a time.
Of course, it would be unfair to pin the entire blame on Antony. Several army officers, too, ensured that the racket kept rolling ever since the first truck was purchased in 1986. Some of them or maybe all those involved will have to answer the CBI in the coming days.
Of the various audit findings, DNA found one buried in the files of the Master General of Ordnance (MGO) and the War Establishment (WE) — the two directorates in the army headquarters responsible for all procurements.
In 2006, the defence audit wing audited the performance of the army’s vehicle management. S Kalyanraman, a senior audit officer in the wing, chanced upon a transaction with several anomalies in connection with the purchase of Tatra trucks. In a query note, accessed by DNA, to the army headquarters, he pointed out these discrepancies.
The infantry — the largest and most potent combat arm of the Indian Army — Kalyanraman noted in his query, needed high-mobility vehicles to rush troops to the front during war.
Based on its experience in the Kargil war in 1999 and during Operation Parakram in 2002, the army issued a fresh set of parameters for buying trucks (six-wheel drive trucks under GSQR 486). And three firms, BEML with its Tatra trucks, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, were shortlisted.
Strangely, BEML made it to the list with the Tatra T-815, a four-wheel drive truck. Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland were running six-wheel drive trucks on trial when the list was prepared.
"Subsequently the LPTA 1621 truck of Tata Motors qualified for induction in the army because the firm had carried out the suggested modifications successfully and it was approved by VRDE", Kalyanraman said in his note.
But inexplicable changes followed and an order for 490 trucks were placed with BEML in March 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs254.54. Kalyanraman's audit investigation revealed that the order went to BEML after "secretary (defence production) strongly recommended" the public sector unit to the then defence secretary and the then vice-chief of the army.
Shekhar Dutt was the defence secretary then. He is now the governor of Chhatisgarh. Considered close to the senior Congress leadership, Dutt received several assignments after retirement.
The defence ministry justified the switch by changing the parameters. It used a GSQR meant for some other truck to push the deal in favour of BEML. All this was done "to keep the production line of BEML alive".
Last year, too, the CAG reported negatively against BEML and Tatra. The CBI, a source said, will use these reports as evidence in its investigation into the Tatra scam.
The audit report (No. 24 of 2011-12) on defence services noted: "The increase of Rs352 crore under heavy and medium vehicles was mainly due to… additional requirement of funds for the new scheme (HMV Tatra Quantity 788)".
At least Rs314.85 crore was paid as advance for contracts that were hastily pushed through in March 2010 "for Tatra vehicles". But "no benefit could be achieved" and there was a case of "over-booking".
Once General VK Singh took over as the army chief, he refused to authorise a purchase of Tatra trucks, following a "bribe offer of Rs 14 crore". The general has accused Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh of making the bribe offer. The CBI is investigating the matter.
But the fact is Kalyanraman's audit findings were buried under files and a scam was allowed to flourish for several years.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-tatra-scam-govt-did-impose-deal-on-the-army-3208856.html?RHS-top_news=
Tatra row grounds PC chopper plan  by NISHIT DHOLABHAI 
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120505/jsp/nation/story_15454108.jsp

Army-CAG dispute puts CSD canteens on stake

Jan 08, 2012 at 10:13am IST
Army-CAG dispute puts CSD canteens on stake
Surya Gangadharan, CNN-IBN

The Money behind the Army Canteen


New Delhi: To find out India's largest retail outlet, you should check out the Ministry of Defence in Delhi's South Block, where the humbly named Canteen Services Department or CSD is headquartered. The CSD is a wholesale agent, which buys directly from manufacturers and selling to 4000 Unit Run Canteens of the armed forces all over India.

According to RTI documents accessed by CNN-IBN, the Unit Run Canteens have run up profits of at least Rs 300 crore on a turnover of Rs 8000 crore in the last decade.

Now the official government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), wants to audit the accounts of the canteens.

The CAG says the canteens use government infrastructure, sell items at prices fixed by the Defence Ministry and are run by government personnel. Therefore the canteens are a government department.

But in a detailed note to CNN-IBN, high level army sources, dealing with this issue, said URCs are beyond the purview of the CAG.

The armed forces said Unit Run Canteens (URCs) are private ventures of the armed forces, which are wholly funded by individual regiments with officer and jawan contributing. The canteens buy items of daily use from CSD by advance cheque and sell the items to armed forces personnel wherever posted and the profits fund welfare programmes for armed forces personnel.

The Supreme Court in a judgment in April 2009 ruled that URCs are private ventures. But a cabinet note of August 1976 described the profits generated by canteens as non public funds and therefore outside government accounts. It said no money from the Consolidated Fund of India was going to the URCs.

But the CAG is standing firm, saying that money from the Consolidated Fund of India goes to the URCs. Senior army officers, however, say this money is a commercial loan not a grant. Last year around Rs 200 crore was paid back to the Consolidated Fund.

The armed forces are now reportedly considering a range of options including shutting down the URCs altogether and creating and funding their own NGO for the purpose. It would offer the same services as the URCs minus of course the headache.
Army-CAG dispute puts CSD canteens on stake

Malpractices in the supply chain management of the Army

Army ration supply practices rotten: Public Accounts Committee
The Hindu: Special Correspondent
In certain cases troops consumed dry rations 6-28 months after expiry
Pointing out that the Army marches on its stomach, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has taken exception to its ration supply chain practices and cited several “glaring deficiencies and inadequacies.”

Observing that in certain cases dry rations were consumed by troops even 6-28 months after the expiry of their normal Estimated Storage Life (ESL), the PAC in its report, tabled last week, recommended that the authorities revisit/amend the existing provision of the Army Service Corps technical instructions to ensure that food items were issued in accordance with their ESL.

As for fresh vegetables and fruits, 74 per cent of these items issued to the units by the supply depots were not in accordance with the prescribed norms.

Citing “serious anomalies in receipt and supply of vegetables in one station alone,” the PAC said the Northern Command rations worth Rs. 1.92 crore remained untraceable as on March, 31, 2008. A test check reflected “deep-rooted and widespread malpractices in the supply chain management of the Army.”

Observing “shortcomings” in the procurement procedures of the Army Service Corps, it noted highly non-competitive procurement of fresh rations and deviation from the laid down guidelines.

Deploring the mismatch between the issue and receipt of rations, the PAC said it was inconceivable that such things could happen “without the complicity of officers” concerned.

In another report on the Canteen Stores Department (CSD), the PAC took a serious view of the Army Headquarters denying auditors access to the accounts of the Unit Run Canteens (URCs), which recorded an annual turnover of Rs.8,500 crore during 2008-09.

Noting that the Comptroller and Auditor-General was unable to audit the 3,600 URCs, the report said this restricted parliamentary oversight to the CSD.

The CAG has been seeking to audit the URCs' accounts on the ground that the CSD transfers money from the Consolidated Fund of India in the form of qualitative discounts. But the armed forces are opposed to the move, claiming that the URCs are run with a non-public fund.

“The Committee is dismayed to note that Audit was denied access to records of the URCs by the Army Headquarters in spite of repeated requests…What is more intriguing is the fact that such denial was made despite the directions of the Defence Ministry to make records of the URCs available for audit.”
Army ration supply practices rotten: Public Accounts Committee

Defence scam: Demystifying Unit Run CSD Canteens

CAG’s right to probe the way public funds were being handled was questioned. Then, it found that considerable sums of money — about Rs. 80 crore per year — went missing from the system. And that there was resistance to the idea of accountability.
The large network of 3,600 Unit Run Canteens (URCs) are given soft loans at subsidised rates of interest (4.5-6.5 percent) from the Consolidated Fund of India via the CSD for setting up retail outlets and stocking up.
All of them function from government premises, which are made available to them free of cost. Transport of goods is done by defence vehicles using service personnel.
Considerable amount of Central government funds are provided to the URCs every year from the budgetary provisions of CSD by way of quantitative discount. A proposal for disbursement of quantitative discount for 2008-09 to the tune of Rs. 200 crore is under consideration. In order to have a better view on the overall services being provided by CSD to the URC, it is imperative that the audit personnel of DGADS are allowed to have access to information maintained by the URCs.”
But CSD officials maintained that the outlets are managed primarily as a regimental institution. Further, that the Commanding Officers are solely responsible for their functioning and financial aspects are audited by various internal audit boards as well as registered chartered accountants.
But the CAG pointed out that the trade discount given to the outlets was never passed on to the consumer. This adversely affected the CSD’s profitability and therefore government revenues. Since 50 percent of the CSD profit should accrue to the government, treating the discount given as a charge to the trade understated the profit and thereby deprived the government of revenue worth hundreds of crores.
To top it all, CSD doled out grants given out of its profit to various organisations without even insisting on application for funds. Utilisation certificates were never insisted on from major recipients, namely army, navy or air force, for the grants provided.
The CAG discovered other anomalies in the course of its audit. For instance, that the “base depot had not shifted to the new location even after 13 years of taking over the land at Taloja (Navi Mumbai) and continues to occupy the premises leased by the Indian Navy from Mumbai Port Trust. Not only this, rates of transportation paid by the base depot for ferrying of stores to other parts of the country were exorbitantly high compared to the rates set by Mumbai sub-area”.
Moreover, several units under the jurisdiction of five area depots were drawing liquor in excess of that authorised on the basis of the strength of the unit. CSD and the army authorities allowed excess withdrawal of concessional liquor worth Rs. 7.82 crore, the market value of which was Rs. 19.45 crore.
CAG has now suggested that URCs should be recognised as retail outlets integral to CSD and its operational results should be disclosed in CSD accounts. But right now, the armed forces seem reluctant to loosen their grip, irrespective of the fact that the exchequer is losing hundreds of crores. -via Tehelka
Cheap booze comes with a price
Comment: The Military needs to come clean on this perpetuating scam. All URC accounts must be a open book and audited by CAG. This will reduce sycophancy, corruption and primarily set right the flawed ACR system which presently encourages promotion of corrupt officers.

Government to muzzle CAG and RTI Act?

What began as a few whispers is now a booming drumbeat. Powerful senior ministers are asserting that the Right to Information Act (RTI), till now flaunted as one of the UPA government’s biggest gifts to the aam aadmi, is “transgressing into government functioning”. Similar misgivings are being voiced on another constitutional body that has been in the news lately—the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). Put together, this has raised fears of a possible attempt to muzzle the proverbial messenger.
“The government has not made it clear what can or cannot be made public, which is what’s leading to controversies.”Sudha Pai, Professor, JNU
“Both (RTI and CAG) are messengers that bring to people something that has been stolen or gone wrong,” says former CAG T.N. Chaturvedi. But that’s not how a beleaguered government is seeing it. Facing varied governance scandals, it says that RTI is being misused for political and business ends. Over the past few weeks, one RTI response brought to fore the rivalry between Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P. Chidambaram. Another RTI reply has cast doubts on the CAG’s assessment of losses to the exchequer in the 2G case.
Are they really hampering government functioning? That’s arguable, feels former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, pointing out that if government agencies share information or store it well in the first place, no time would be lost in retrieving and giving RTI responses. “The apprehensions,” Habibullah stresses, “arise due to the fact that we have been an insular government and very secretive so far. The use of RTI is not to impair law or government functioning.” On concerns over leakage of sensitive information, he cites the example of the army, which has streamlined the system with adequate checks.
Civil society, meanwhile, is happy that RTI is now helping improve services by generating, for instance, public debate and action in Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh for monitoring nrega and better supply of subsidised foodgrains, respectively. Voicing civil society’s fears, Nikhil Dey of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information says: “We’re worried that the government will dilute the RTI on some pretext. If at all we need to rethink, it’s only about better implementation.”
Till now, civil society has managed to thwart attempts by the government to impose many new conditions—like word limit or multiple questions in an application. So far, the government has promised there would be public consultation for any amendment.
“The CAG is not interested in running down the government or the PMO. Its report can only hold a mirror to events.”T.N. Chaturvedi, Former CAG
“Why should there be any rethink on RTI? Nobody can fully cleanse the system, but at least RTI is helping to do so in bits and pieces. It has put some fear in the system,” says former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, who still lends support to various anti-corruption movements. The general consensus is that despite the odd misuse of RTI for political ends, it has only helped improve government functioning. Unfortunately for the government, the full potential of RTI is still being unravelled.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278635

How Bureaucrats Hoodwink the Government and the Public

Dear Brigadier Kamboj,
I think we soldiers are paying for the sin of being naïve and straight forward. Using he RTI Act, I have discovered that most civilian government servants manage to increase their salaries by 10 to 20% by a simple expedient– monetary awards. I had seen this happening in RAW. The IB must be doing the same thing, as well as most para military forces. The only people who do not get awards for doing routine jobs are soldiers.
I had filed an RTI application on 15/6/09 with CBI, asking for details of monetary awards given to their personnel during the last 8 years. The results were startling. In fact, Outlook did a story on this, which is given in the link below. I am also attaching some examples, as a sample. There are similar cases in the hundred odd offices of the CBI all over the country.

The RTI application asked for information in respect of the monetary awards given to CBI personnel during the period 01/01/2001 to 31/12/2008. Shri S.K.Palsania, Asstt. Inspr. Genl. of Police transferred the application under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act to ‘All Heads of Branches/CPIOs of CBI (Delhi & outside Delhi).

During the last six months, I have received letters from various branches of the CBI all over the country. Some have given the information while others have stated that it is Nil. The documents run into several thousand pages. I have not had time to read all of it. However, the important point is that CBI personnel are being given monetary awards for routine work, such as doing good work during visits of senior officers, driving a vehicle, shifting furniture, cleaning offices, guard duties and so on. The awards range from a few hundred rupees to several thousand rupees. In many cases, more than one award has been given on the same date, to the same person, by the same officer, perhaps because of the monetary limits imposed. Even officers of the rank of SPs are given such awards.

The awards were being paid out of Major Head 2055, Police 01-CBI, 01.00.01 ‘Salaries’, up to 2006. From 2007 they are being paid out of Major Head 2055, Police 00.001-Crl Inv. & Vig., 01-CBI, 01.00.05-sub head ‘Rewards’. As a result, most CBI personnel are able to earn between 10 to 20 percent above their salaries. In real terms, each man gets the salary of one or two grades higher than the one in which he is placed. This is a mockery of the exercise of fixing salaries in accordance with the recommendations of the Pay Commissions.

It is relevant that Armed Forces personnel do not get any monetary awards, even during if they are killed or wounded in operations, unless they earn a gallantry award, which very few get (less than one in thousand).

Major Cases
During search carried out at various houses of Shri A.P. Singh, ex Chief Secretary of UP in 2005, Rs 38 lakhs was recovered. 41 persons from CBI took part in the raids. They were all given monetary awards ranging from 500 to 6000. Vide CBI office order dated 4/1/2008, 20 officers of the rank of Addl SP/Sr. PP and DySP/PP were sanctioned monetary awards ranging from 2000 to 3500. Some names occur three times in the list. Shri SR Majumdar, Addl SP, Kolkata and PV Ramakrishna Rao, PP, Bhubaneshwar got three awards totalling 8500. (Pay scale of Addl SP/Sr PP was 10,000-352-15,200 and of DySP/PP was 8,000-275-13,500). The Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency in Chennai was set up to investigate the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The 13 persons got 158 awards in 2001. In other words, each person was given over 10 monetary awards, in one year.

I am not sure if the Finance Minister or the CAG is aware of this systematic loot. Perhaps other government departments also do it, so nobody finds it odd. If this is so, why should we not have this in the Armed Forces? If an SP or DIG can sanction monetary awards, why should the CO or the Brigade Commander not have similar powers?
Regards,
Maj Gen VK Singh
cbi: profligacy-Grease On The Lens: The CBI’s arbitrary ‘rewards’ to its own is wastage of public funds by Saikat Datta
Awards dished out to CBI personnel doing routine official work